Inspired by Musical Director Sue Ford’s vision of writing all original songs on the theme of Love for December’s Winter Program, Susie Robidoux, 4th grade’s fearless Lead Teacher, developed an entirely new unit on Love. She got her students started by asking them: What is love for you? What does it look like? What does it feel like? From there they came to understand love as having three distinct forms. Love is first an expression originated in the self, then an action cultivated in community, and finally an offering given with generosity. The fourth graders learned to think of it this way: Love is fostered within us… grown among us…. and gifted beyond us. These beautiful song lyrics reflect their journey through their curriculum on Love.
Let us work together for love in head, heart, and hand. Let us work together for love to make a better land. Love is many things; I cannot count them all. It is powerful. It is peaceful. Love is many things; I cannot count them all. It can break down every wall. Through the woods past the valley where the sea of green grass grows. Love is found in nature’s harmony where the holy river flows. Friends, family, love of life; I feel the warmth from you. Follow me to the land of love where your light is honored and true to make a different land.
The Third Grade Penguins sing to us of the transformative power of love in this touching music video. In December’s Annual Winter Program Sue Ford, Rainbow’s Music Director, helped each grade write original songs on the theme of love. The audience was touched by the children’s simple and profound message that love might truly be the most natural and easiest gift to both give and receive.
The 2nd grade River Otters wrote this original song in collaboration with their teachers for Rainbow’s Annual Winter Program last month. As one 2nd grader put it best, “We wrote about how we know we’re loved.” Rainbow children grow up knowing their loved from the moment they walk on campus. From teachers who design their classrooms to feel like home, to classmates who learn to communicate their feelings with honesty and compassion, children are exposed to the raw power of Love through their Rainbow community and their Rainbow education every day. These second graders however are unwilling to keep all that love for themselves. They take it one step further spreading their enthusiasm for love with cheeky grins and sincere joy as they sing out to us, “I love myself, hope you do to!”
This year our Annual Winter Program featured all original songs composed by our students in collaboration with their teachers. Our Music Director, Sue Ford, took on this robust task with zealous passion and creativity. With “Love” as their muse, these First Grade Wolves reflected on what they most cherish in their lives. Together they chose the object of their affection with ease… the world. They simply love their world. With images invoking nature and circles of family and friends, they share their sincere love with us, inviting us to join them in loving our dear world with trusting innocence and peace.
If this study is accurate, and religious children are less compassionate, what about spiritual children? If we put people into four categories:
1. religious and spiritual
2. religious and NOT spiritual
3. non religious and spiritual, and
4. non religious and not spiritual
Years of studies by Lisa Miller, director of clinical psychology at Columbia Teacher’s College, reveal that the traits of spiritual children, whether in the religious or non religious category, are far more positive than children who were not spiritual. There we 80% less likely to suffer from depression and far less likely to engage in risky behaviors. Miller defines spirituality as having a sense of some unifying force, whether that force is thought of as God, nature, the universe, or any other term/concept. Spiritual children had higher self-esteems and displayed far greater compassion and happiness.
So if spirituality raises healthier, happier, wiser, more responsible children, the question is “How do we promote spirituality?” And we ask this question regardless of whether they are religious or not. Since 1977 Rainbow Community School has made spiritual development a core part of our holistic program. (See The Spiritual Domain for an explanation of how it is implemented.)
What about religious children? It is interesting to note that religiosity does not inherently generate spirituality. While the children who were religious and spiritual conveyed all the benefits of spirituality, of the four categories, the children who were religious and NOT spiritual were at the highest risk for substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, and depression. It is important that people don’t read this article by the Guardian and draw the conclusion that religion is bad. Religion is perhaps more about customs and ethnicity–nothing wrong with that! Religion is only a problem if it gets in the way of compassionate spirituality.
“’Walk in beauty,’ is sage advice I learned from Native elders. Since my youth, when I was fascinated with Native wisdom, I have strived to walk the beauty way, but it took me until middle age to understand my path. The secret? Being engaged in a purpose – a higher calling… Our greater calling at Rainbow Community School is to return beauty back into education. American education has forgotten how to walk in beauty. By infusing beauty into education I believe we can usher in a new era that will restore faith in American education and bring hope to humanity”.
RCS Director, Renee Owen, discusses how Beauty is necessary in balancing the triad of mind, body, and heart within education. Read the full article: Heart of the Matter: Beauty
